The Shining – Secrets That Kubrick Buries in His Masterpiece of Psychological Terror

This blew me away. I have seen The Shining, by my calculation, at least 120 times. I first saw it in 1990, and I probably watch it a half-dozen times a year. That would make 133 viewings thus far. I read the book in high school, and I thought it was spooky, but in a Stephen King way. Kubrick scares the cheesus out of me with his vision of Stephen King’s masterpiece of horror.

What is wonderful about truly brilliant macabre art is that, under the guise of well-known, harmless superstitions and tales of ghostly ghouls and spooky fates, there lurks deeper a kind of nameless, enigmatic, weird malevolent force of evil that isn’t supposed to be there. Good horror stories give you the illusion that you’re experiencing the tired old creäture feature, but, by slight reveals and strange detail, hint at something else going on below the surface.

I’ve watched The Shining so many times it has become etched into my brain like someone poured acid on it. On the surface, it seems that The Overlook is haunted. But look deeper. And get your cocoa. This very interesting analysis of The Shining tries to reveal a hidden element of the film that makes me want to go back and watch it again.